The von Gemmingens and von Kochendorfs could see that a more drastic action was necessary to get the attention of the villagers who tore down the fences and complained to the higher courts. On a Sunday morning when all of the villagers were attending the compulsory church service, the "vons" had twenty hired men round up the village hogs (160 head) and take them to Gemmingen.
The villagers discovered the theft of their hogs that afternoon. They met to discuss what to do. While they were doing this, some of the younger men followed the trial of the hogs to Gemmingen. One group wanted to march on Gemmingen and retrieve the hogs. Another group was more moderate but they banded together with oaths (with one exception) not to give up the struggle against the Herrschaft (Lords) until they had won. Instead of a physical assault, they complained to the court at Heilbronn which ruled in their favor.
The Herrschaft ignored the Imperial Court's ruling and began selling the hogs at bargain prices. They threatened to take the villagers' cattle also. They did try to steal the sheep. Shots were fired and the Herrschaft's men retreated. Fearing possible Imperial intervention against their cause, the von Gemmingens and von Kocherdorfs lost their nerve and sought a truce. An appeal was made to the Imperial authorities to mediate the dispute and the Herrschafts had to make a partial repayment for the lost hogs.
This did not smooth relations between the villagers and their Herrschaft. The pause created time for planning the next phase. In 1721, the Herrschaft hand-picked a new Lutheran pastor, who began preaching obedience to the authorities. The pastor went too far in his zeal. After six months of being berated for their past behavior, the villagers met to decide what to do about the new preacher, who seemed to be taking the side of the Herrschaft. A committee of six went to the preacher's house where they demanded that he revise his style of preaching or they would go to church elsewhere and stop supporting him financially. He replied that he had a degree from the University at Heidelberg and he did not have to defend his style of preaching to them. The von Gemmingens and von Kocherdorfs backed down again and they told the preacher that he would receive no funds from them for the construction of a new parsonage and church. Somehow, these words reached the understanding of the preacher and he changed his approach in his sermons. He went on to stay for twenty years.
This series of incidents is interesting for a variety of reasons. There were agreements between the Herrschafts and the peasants going back to the 16th century. The peasants were well aware of these.
(to be continued)
(23 Jan 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.